Books & ideas

Neoliberalism à la française

Matthew Soener — 2020-02-03T08:00:00Z

From Mitterrand's “rigueur” to Hollande's “mandate,” Bruno Amable charts the transformation of French capitalism and reveals the making of a political crisis.

William Thompson, a Pioneer of European Socialism

Caroline Gomes — 2019-12-05T08:00:00Z

An Irish landowner, economist, philosopher and defender of women's rights, William Thompson was one of the greatest Socialist figures before Marx. Nowadays neglected, his thought nevertheless has many echoes with important contemporary debates, from the critique of capitalism to the rise of feminism.

Is There an End to Productivism?

Jean Bérard — 2019-07-11T07:00:00Z

The most influential doctrines (Liberal, Socialist, Marxist) that have competed since the 19^th century to define the future of industrial society are all designed to support a productivist society. This hegemony has marginalised the ecological alternatives. Is their dominance coming to an end?

From Marx to Marxism: Histories of an Idea

Ophélie Siméon — 2018-05-07T07:00:00Z

Two hundred years after Karl Marx's birth, Gregory Claeys takes a new look at the thinker's intellectual formation, wide-ranging posterity and continued relevance in the 21^st century.

Michel Chevalier: Visionary of Modern Europe?

Michael Drolet — 2018-01-29T08:00:00Z

Leading 19^th century statesman, political economist, architect of the 1860 commercial treaty between France and the United Kingdom, and campaigner for peace between European nations, Michel Chevalier had also been a dominant voice in the Romantic socialism of Saint-Simonianism: the eclectic nature of his thought would lend itself to a particular vision of Europe, forerunner of today's European Union.

Reform in China: Sluggish or Dynamic?

Émilie Frenkiel — 2013-10-11T07:16:34Z

Lucien Bianco is a historian of Chinese peasantry and the author of Origins of the Chinese Revolution, 1915-1949. In this interview for Books&Ideas, he draws a mixed portrait of the changes undergone by China for a couple of decades, and mentions the ‘de-Maoization process', the single child policy, the ‘new socialist countryside', as well as the elitiste discourse of Chinese intellectuals.

The Life of Others (and Ourselves)

Alvaro Santana Acuña — 2013-04-04T07:00:00Z

Andreas Glaeser's Political Epistemics is an account of the rise and fall of the East German Socialism as a field of consciousness. Relying on extensive archival research and interviews (including Stasi officers, secret informants & political dissidents), Glaeser offers a “theory of understandings” to provide a new angle on the question of how worldviews become institutionalized.

Robert Owen: The Father of British Socialism?

Ophélie Siméon — 2012-12-10T08:25:00Z

In the early 19^th century, Europe saw the emergence of “utopian socialism”. Whereas in France utopian socialism is associated with thinkers such as Henri de Saint Simon, Charles Fourier and Pierre Leroux, in Great Britain it is attached to the figure of Robert Owen (1771-1858). The essay reassesses Robert Owen's legacy as the father of British socialism and explores the nature of his intellectual legacy on British politics.

The Story Behind the Sneer

Julian Wright — 2011-03-30T06:45:00Z

Based on new material and a subtle analysis of individual experiences, Ducoulombier's book offers a refreshing look at the birth of the French Communist Party in 1920. The historian argues that the Congress of Tours followed the development of a marginal culture of political dissent within French socialism during the Great War.

Frédéric Bastiat, the American Right's French Inspiration

Michael C. Behrent — 2010-07-01T08:22:00Z

There is no small irony in the fact that while many Americans naturally associate “France” with “socialism,” the American right has turned to a French author to denounce what it sees as the immorality and “socialist” tendencies of its own government. His name: Frédéric Bastiat.